Utah – TooBusyForWork

Late posting again

I have no idea why I sometimes just can’t get in the mood to post. It might be because I am also active on Facebook and post some things there. But I can’t use FB as a search tool to show where I’ve been and what I have seen, so here I am back to it again.

We were, as usual, really busy at the FMCA convention. I taught a class on collapsable storage containers that went really well. Everybody got finished, and that’s a major accomplishment by itself. It helped that everyone knew how to use their sewing machines! Here was a sample I made.

We had thought about just gradually and slowly heading back home, but we decided to pretty much just head straight back with only a bit of detours. We spent Thursday, 22 September, in Caldwell, ID at the Elks Lodge. Nice place. Then we stayed at dry camping spot at Stanton Crossing, ID for 3 nights. There was a nice museum there we visited too. Nice change from all the crowds in Oregon. From there we went to northern Utah on the southern part of the Uintah Moutains and a nice boondock site along the Mirror Lake highway. We did some riding and generally kept relaxing. On Friday, 30 August, we were in Laramie at the Walmart. Saturday we stayed at Cabelas in Kearney, NE. Sunday we stayed at an Elks Club in Des Moines. On Monday, Labor Day, we made it home, though it was late enough in the day we just stayed in the motorhome at the local campground (Big Woods Lake) again. It is so easy to just put the motorhome in a spot and unpack gradually!

I really haven’t done much sewing this entire summer. I did finish a couple of quilts that were mostly pieced in the motorhome. The triangle one only needed binding, but the Hunter Star needed quilting and binding. Much easier to quilt on the sitdown Sweet 16!

Now we are off again. We left this morning for Red Bay, AL for our yearly motorhome service, to fix a few nagging issues, and to get a bit of remodeling done We stayed in the Walmart parking lot in Bowling Green, MO, between Hannibal and St. Louis. About 270 miles from home so a nice day’s drive.

Antelope Island views then north

I forgot to post any pictures from Antelope Island, so here you go! The bison herd on Antelope Island is famous. The bulls were looking pretty beat up since mating season was just finishing.

And no set of pictures for Antelope Island is complete without a gorgeous sunset view. The sunset was just orange/red from the smoke haze. Beautiful, but it makes it tough to breathe.

We did get to Island Park, ID and found a great boondocking site on Sunday, 21 July. We stayed there through Thursday night. We obviously took some RZR rides, but we also enjoyed meeting some friends who were work camping in the area, one in West Yellowstone and one at Henry’s Lake State Park. We discovered the osprey nest on a dead end trail we took by accident. Nice accident! There were two young birds. When I snapped this picture (from a long way away!), one adult bird had just flown off to get more food for the hungry teens.

There was quite a bit of water, and we saw lots of lilies.

We also took one day into Yellowstone. We got into the park by 7:00 am. It was cool enough some of the animals like these elk were still close to the road. The other advantage of early, cool mornings is the steam rising from the thermal features is much more visible.

These three elk were just as we got into the park

We saw a number of the primary animals – bison, bald eagle, osprey, elk, deer, and a fat, happy black bear.

We spent Friday, 26 July, at the Y Knot Winery campground, Glenn’s Ferry, ID. It was still smoky, something that had been increasing since the last couple of days at Island Park. The next day was a killer. We had reservations in Burns, OR, but the AQI was over 600! A lot of eastern Oregon seems to be on fire, and there was a big one just outside Burns. The haze was thick, and the air smelled of smoke. We just kept going until we got to Bend, OR where we stopped at an Elks Lodge again. The drive was mostly 2 lane roads with lots of curves. I was tired when we got set up!

The next day wasn’t any better, but we wanted to keep heading west to get out of the smoke. We drove from Bend to Springfield, OR, just outside Eugene, OR. I had a UPS delivery sent there, and I needed to pick it up before our chapter rally. The road from 5 miles south of Sisters pretty much all the way to Springfield was the slowest I have driven the motorhome. It was only 120 miles, but it took over 4 hours. The traffic was very heavy, there was lots of construction, and the mountain roads very winding. Ugh. We hadn’t started until 10:30, because we thought it wouldn’t take long. I was awfully tired when we finally got to the Elks Lodge where we stopped for the night. We have definitely gotten a lot out of our Elk’s Lodge membership! It is nice to have a safe spot to pull into while traveling. Many are dry camping for $5-$10 which is just fine for us. Some have electricity which is nice on hot days, and those are $20-$30 a night, still worthwhile.

I was so tired of the bad air quality, so we headed for the coast instead of staying in Springfield a few days like we had intended. We are currently at the Elk’s Lodge campground in Florence, OR 1 mile off Hwy 101. Beautiful place for $35 a night with electricity and water. We could only get 2 nights here, but they also have dry camping where we hope to spend the next nights before our FMCA rally in Coos Bay. I intend on hitting the local fabric shop for some more fat quarters and interfacing for class samples. I am teaching a class on collapsable fabric storage containers, and it is easier to show students some of the steps than describe them. I have the kits cut for the students, but I will partially make some more as examples.

Now to clean up!

North Rim Part 2

Ok, I will just come out and say the North Rim of the Grand Canyon beats the South Rim, hands down! I don’t know that I will ever visit the South Rim again.

We took 4 July to just drive around the area and see a few sights before our tour group got together. Here are some highlights.

On 5 July we met our tour group. We started off with an evening ride to a fire tour about 10 miles away. It was very, very, very dusty! There were about 45 or so rigs on this trip, and it seemed to take forever at the stop we made. The fire tower only allowed four people at a time, and it seemed a LOT of people wanted to climb it.

On Saturday we divided into two groups of 30ish rigs to do a ride. Our leader was fairly good, but not completely clear on directions. He also complained about the speed we were making but he stopped for a LONG time at each stop. I know it takes a while for folks to pee and drink water, but it doesn’t take 45 minutes! The ride was beautiful, but it made the previous dusty ride look clean. So much dust! I am just not used to a super dusty ride like that. In our club in Quartzsite we mostly ride on rocks, not dusty locations, and I have seldom riden with so many people, and then it wasn’t on dusty roads. But the views were good.

I did bump up the saturation on this to see the shades

On Sunday we only did a part of the ride with the tour group since we had already seen their last stop. At last I could breathe! We had a fabulous lunch all by ourselves in a beautiful grove of pines. There is a lot of virgin forest here.

Kevin showing just how big these Virgin Ponderosa pines really are

We were supposed to travel next to Marysvale, UT, but the fires there were on the west side of town heading east. I figured the smoke would be just as bad for me as the dust had been, so we cancelled our reservations. Hopefully we can get back there another time. On Monday, 8 July, we went to a cheap campground in Fredonia, UT, the Wagon Wheel RV Park. It was FHU for on,y $30 a night, so we didn’t complain. We got all our laundry done and stocked up on groceries in nearby Colorado City. We then had to decide what to do next since the fires interfered with our trip to Marysvale. We decided to just go back to the North Rim!

There are bison in the North Rim, but we hadn’t seen any until our last day there. We finally saw one just standing around (kind of boring) and another have a nice dust bath in a Buffalo wallow. Guess which one I am posting?

We generally just relaxed a lot, riding only another couple of days. The views were so lovely, the campsite so quiet, and the weather so temperate we just chilled reading books and such. We ate at Jacob’s Lake restaurant and the Kaibab Lodge, and both were excellent.

On Monday, 15 July, we started to head north. We spent one night at the Saint George Elks Lodge, and we were the only ones there! Then again, it was 105! Awful, but the views were nice. Tuesday we went to the Cedar City RV Resort, a nice place. We had reservations to see “Much Ado About Nothing”at the Utah Shakespeare Festival, and it was a hoot, Shakespeare’s comedies are belly laughing funny and definitely not “high brow” stuff. We had intended to visit a small Renaissance Faire going on, but it was just too miserably hot since they didn’t open until 11:00 am. We did visit the Frontier Homestead State Park Museum, but I gave out from the heat before I got to all the outdoor exhibits. Nice museum though!

Did I mention it was HOT? After the 105 degrees in St. George and the 99 degrees in Cedar City, we decided to prolong the pain by spending time at Antelope Island State Park, UT. The island is in the Great Salt Lake, and it was one of our favorite spots when we lived in SLC. We also wanted to see friends in the area. Antelope Island was also really hot, 10 degrees above average, but what is “average” anymore? There was also a LOT of haze from smoke. We did get a bunch of shopping done, and we spent time with friends, so it was worth it. But we aren’t going to stay 3 nights like we planned. We decided to head to Island Park tomorrow morning. Temps are forecast to be in the mid to upper 80s, and we can handle that. Crossing my fingers!

North Rim, Part 1

After a fabulous trip in the Uintas, we needed to move on. Because the holiday is this week, we couldn’t find a really nice place to spend a couple of days. Everything was reserved! We ended up at a Love’s Travel Stop in Salina, UT, just off I-70. Good things: it was close for travel, clean, concrete patio, and amazingly quiet. Not so good things: expensive for a bare pull through with no trees, no landscaping, just concrete and black top. It met the need though. We did lots of laundry, got groceries, and we generally caught up with things. Not my favorite kind of place though, and it will be on my “if nothing else is available” list.

We drove the rest of the way to the North Rim on Monday. We found an amazing boondock site just off FS 22 which branches off AZ 67, the Grand Canyon HWY. Two miles up a gravel road led to a huge site surrounded by aspens and pines with a few fairly level spots.

We have since put up the Clam shelter since there are a lot of flies and a few mosquitos. Monday night we had dinner at the Kaibab Lodge, and it was fabulous! They normally offer a buffet, but it was pretty quiet so they just had a few menu items for choices. Everything was done beautifully, and it tasted great. We had a nice talk with the cook. He stays at the lodge in the summer and in Yuma during the winter. He full-times in a 27’ travel trailer.

On Tuesday we drove to Hurricane, UT to pick up the RZR we had left for an oil change on Monday. We had a bunch of engine work done before we left Iowa, and it needed an out of cycle oil change. It was a bit before the 50 hours recommended, but we would have been over the hours if we had waited until we left. I also picked up some new fabric for a quilt top I am hoping to finish during this trip.

Today we drove to the North Rim visitor center. Lots and lots fewer visitors than the South Rim! I was so proud of myself walking for 200 yards or so with a brief stop in the middle. I could not walk 50’ before my nerve ablation, so life definitely looking up. After all the driving, we both took a nap! We had pizza for dinner, made on the Blackstone. Sausage, onions, and mushrooms made a fabulous topping.

For the next four days we will be doing a bunch of UTV riding, so more to come!

North Slope Road, UT and surrounds

North Slope Road is also known as WY 283, China Meadow Road, and USFS 072. We are parked not far off the road behind a row of pines. Since we arrived on Monday we have taken three RZR rides. The first was a short jaunt on Monday to China Meadows just down the road. It is a large beaver-created meadow that is beautiful. There is a small tent campground, but lots more dispersed sites. And we saw a moose! The picture is just awful because we were totally surprised when he stepped out of the willows and crossed the road. This pic is from Kevin’s phone and does not do the animal justice. This was probably the most beautiful bull moose I have ever seen. He was a glistening dark brown and huge. He walked across the road and was gone into the trees and up the hill by the time we got our wits together. You can see a bit of China Meadows too.

On Monday we took a longer trip on the west side of Marsh Lake. It was lovely! We climbed up the mountains well north to Stateline Reservoir, and then followed the trail along the ridge. There were lots of ruined log cabins scattered through the entire route. We asked a USFS employee what they were the remnant of, and he said they were left over from the tie hacking days. Beginning in the 1860s with the Transcontinental Railroad and continuing periodically through the 1930s, tie hackers would harvest wood, cut it the size of railroad ties, and send them downriver to be collected.

We found a collection of ruins designated as an archeological site. I was told it was a central collecting site for the tie hackers, and it included a commissary plus a number of outbuildings. The first ruin show is the large commissary. You need to click on the link, probably twice.

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This one is just an example of the ride. Most of it was on smooth two digit roads.

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This shows Stateline Reservoir.

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Today we drove on the east side of the campground a total of 60+ miles. It was rough! Wyoming has many trails restricted to 50” units which include motorcycles, traditional sit on ATVs, and the smallest of the side by sides like ours. This is what they use to make sure you stay true to the size limit! This was through a bog.

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Then there are these photos too. It was beavers that made the beautiful meadows, and this dam, not even close to being the largest, is a meadow in the making,

Big beaver dam to eventually make the beautiful meadows.

White columbines were everywhere in the riparian areas.

I have never seen so many white columbines!

Of course the GoPro was busy too. This was the first 50” trail we too, today. It was ROUGH! It went mostly straight up through a big blowdown. Very interesting, and challenging to drive on. There was one spot where a dead tree had rolled into the road, and Kevin moved it to the side, securing it with a rock.

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Here is a video of the bog boardwalk trail.

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Luckily not all of the trip was challenging, but we were both tired and a bit sore.

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it is expected to rain tomorrow, so we decided to take the truck to visit Ft. Bridger. Going to see how my back holds up!

Oh, and I did do some sewing. I finished up a sample for a class I hope to teach at the Redmond, OR FMCA convention in August. It is a cute fabric box that folds completely flat! RVers always need compact storage ideas.

Umm. Should have taken a picture of it collapsed!

And to end on an adorable note, the cats love the motorhome! They spend all their time staring out windows at the squirrels, mice, chipmunks, and birds, that they collapse and cuddle more than usual.

The best reasons to delay making the bed.

Moochdocking at Bear Lake

We left Salt Lake City around 11:00, but I totally underestimated the amount of time driving US 89 through Logan Canyon would take! The posted speed ranged from 20-50, and I generally had to go 5 mph less due to tight curves in the road. I also had to pull over at all the turnouts because of the line of traffic behind me! It is around 30 miles, but it took me well over an hour. I am sure it is a beautiful road, but I was concentrating so much on the pavement that I had to rely on Kevin to confirm that!

I have a friend I used to work with that has a “cabin” (really a very nice home) at Bear Lake. While his address is in Utah, Bear Lake extends into Idaho, and is really a very large natural freshwater lake. It is known for its blue color from dissolved limestone. Jim K has been volunteering an RV spot at his place if we ever came by, and this year we took him up on it. It is a respite from the crazy holiday weekend crowds. The site comes with 50 amp electric and water/sewer. And get this – he isn’t even here! He is on an Alaskan cruise with his wife, but his daughter and three grandkids are staying here. Pretty nice of him to let us stay. The house (I just can’t call it a cabin) is on a hill with a fabulous view of Bear Lake. We watched the town fireworks from his lovely deck.

Bear Lake is a huge tourist spot, and this Independence Day holiday is even crazier than it is the rest of the summer. Tourism group estimated around 100,000 people are around the lake. Luckily it is a really, really big lake! We are near Garden City, UT, and it is a classic lake tourist location. There are a lot of burger joints, tshirt shops, boat rentals, UTV rentals, and, the local specialty, raspberry shake specialty shops. A bit busy for our tastes, but I didn’t expect anything else. The temps are in the low 80s during the day and low 60s at night, so perfect weather. Since we are above 6000’, the intense sun makes the daytime seem even warmer.

We got here yesterday, and we did a quick tour of the town. Today we were planning on a 20 mile trip to Peter Sinks, a geological wonder with extremely cold temperatures year around. It rained last night, and we didn’t get very far on the trip due to slippery mud and very rutted trails. It was labeled as “moderate” difficulty, but it was more than we felt comfortable tackling by ourselves. We were driving far too tipped over for comfort! It wasn’t a wasted trip though since I got more flower pictures.

We got back to the motorhome, cleaned up, and went on the Bear Lake Scenic Drive around the lake. The lake is about 18 miles long and generally 4-6 miles wide, so it really is large for an inland lake. Did I mention it was really, really busy?

The biggest Marina on the Utah half of the lake was a zoo

We started driving on the west side of the lake, headed north. The North BEACH state Park looked like for for 2-3 miles! People parked on the beach with their sun shades and lots of toys. Obviously they were having a good time.

As we continued on the east side of the lake, the shores were very grass and shallow for long distances. Anyone launching a boat here was using a tractor to push the boat trailer into the water quick a ways. Maybe the picture below can give you a good scale.

Zoom on this to see the scale with the tiny boaters

We could barely see the town of Garden City across the lake from the east. See that little dab of white?

I also asked Kevin to drive us to the big overlook at the top of the mountain. There is a visitor center there with picnic tables and informational signs. You might be able to zoom in on a boat or two, but it depends a lot on your screen resolution. I have to reduce the photo size for the blog, so I apologize for the clarity of the picture.

From the top of the mountain visitor center

Tomorrow we have decided to go to some museums in the area instead of doing more riding. We will have opportunity for riding later in the summer, but we won’t be able to see these specific museums again unless we come back to the area.

Last days at Koosharem

We took another RZR trip on Friday before the weekend crowds were going to descend on the area. This time we went east to Fish Lake. We went over the mountain immediately to the east of our campsite via OHV trails, but then we stayed on paved roads quite a while. While we were still on the dirt retails we saw three nice bucks. Sorry for the bad photo; they were a distance away, and then they ran away. The photo also shows a very clear contrast to the hill vegetation, the rich grasses in the irrigated area, and the very dry valley without irrigation.

One of the interesting things about Fish Lake is that it was part of the old mule trail between Santa Fe and Los Angeles, the Old Spanish Trail. One branch went along Fish Lake with its plentiful water and grazing. The markers are accompanied by the silhouettes below of packed mules. Kevin and I are considering finding some resources about this Trail and following it on a summer trip some time. We could go out on the northern route and come back on the southern route, or vice versa.

Spanish Trail marker at the far southern end of Fish Lake

There were some interesting rock outcroppings as we went on the east side of the lake.

The west side of the lake is where all the development is. There are Forest Service campgrounds and private resorts, boat launches, and marinas that were already busy by 10:00 am. This is a picture from the more northern edge. We will eventually be on the hills across the lake.

We moved along the edge of the Fremont River valley, and it was beautiful as you can see. Much of this was pavement, and we could drive at 35-40 mph. Quite different from the 10-15 mph we normally drive on dirt and rock trails!

There are three separate identified photospots along the west side. The trail is a good dirt road that stays between 9500-10,000’ much of the way. The views are just tremendous. The light colored patch across the shore is actually a really big FS campground, to give a sense of scale.

East side of Fish Lake from the viewpoints

Amd since I love flowers, here are some that were new to me on this trip.

The viewpoints were gorgeous – almost 10,000’

On the way back, the sun decided to make the link cactus blossoms just glow in the sun. Obviously what I saw earlier in the week was just the beginning of the bloom, because near the campground, coming off the mountain, the brilliant color was very much in evidence.

On Saturday we stayed at the camper mostly. We did a huge re-sort and clean both inside and in the storage bays. Kevin even gave the poor TZR a bath! I think both the motorhome and RZR weigh significantly less without all the dust! I did a bunch of sewing too. I now have 90 blocks, all 4” square (finished size). However I am totally ready to stop the curved piecing work and go back to a Hunter’s Star I cut out. Much easier.

We left the campground on Sunday morning, driving to the Salt Lake City KOA. As we went to our site, we saw a guy washing RVs, and we were able to get him to do ours too! The motorhome is so pretty! The red and gold just glow when it is clean. We also managed to get to REI and get me a couple more SPF 50 shirts that I can wear when riding or when I just want to sit outside without a lot of sunshine. Tomorrow morning we are heading to a friend’s house next to Bear Lake in northern Utah. He is letting us mooch-dock at his house during the craziness that is the 4th. We will hopefully get to do some riding there too.

Yet more RZR riding in southern Utah

It was a nice day on the trails. We left before 9:00, and we got back a bit after 2:00 – 67 miles. We first drove south to Koosharem, then up a trail along the west side of Mormon Mountain. We crossed UT 24 and headed east along the Paiute Trail. We did take some interesting side loops here and there, but the day was glorious. I am having trouble with the Go Pro battery, so these were all on the iPhone. Be prepared for picture overload!

Not gray rock but a hillside of purple flowers

We saw 8 deer, the first big mammals we have noticed. The RZR is noisy, so we don’t sneak up on things very easily. Besides these three, we also saw a doe and two spotted fawns plus two other solitary deer.

A d lots and lots of flowers. The best were around 7500’.

The center of these reminds me of a shooting star

A lot of clearing cedar trees had been done to the hillsides. It isn’t done by cutting the trees, but by dragging these huge chains between two tracts/bulldozers. It looks pretty horrid right after, but the work will open up the lane for more native vegetation. The fact that it will increase cattle grazing space is also factored in.

There were some old favorites that showed up.

At 7000’, the landscape was mostly sage and cedars.

There were a few surprises like this amazing flower. This was the only one like it I noticed.

We had lunch at Rex Reservoir. Those trees across the lake? Their trunks are 2-3 feet deep in water!

When we got up to 7500’, the scenery changed significantly. Lots of scrub oaks started showing up, and the Mountain View’s improved. If you blow up the picture below and look carefully,there is still snow!

More of the white crepe-like flowers, this time in a clump around Rex Reservoir.

It was the first cloudy day we have had. Ignore the rutted road and look at the lovely sky.

I found only one of this beauty too. An odd cup-like shape.

More sky drama. It wouldn’t be of as much note but the skies have been pristine blue until late afternoon since we arrived.

It was a fabulous trip, but processing this many pictures is time consuming! Just a short drive tomorrow to check out a specific trail, then it will be time to drive into town to get gas.

Southern Utah for a while

We stayed in St. George, Utah just one night on Saturday 24 June. We always stay at the Temple View RV Park, but it is hard to get around their building with the toad. It just isn’t set up for big rigs. The sites are fine though, so we keep coming back. We needed to run the generator for AC pretty much the entire trip since it was still so hot. I was so glad to leave the heat and move to the mountains!

We are staying at the Water Clover RV Park in Burrville, UT, pretty much in the middle of nowhere. The campground is owned by the Koosharem band of Paiutes, and it is on their reservation. Definitely a very basic place that has gravel sites and needs mowing, but it is only $150 for the week with full hookups! Can’t beat that deal. It also is right on a big OHV trail system and near Fish Lake, a big recreation spot. There is one other rig here, but I think they a seasonal since no one has been there since we arrived. Nice view over a small irrigation reservoir.

We took Monday to wander around the area and get information. I had to go to the ER on Sunday when my reaction to the gnat bites I got more than a week before got really concerning. I was afraid I had an infection, but it was just a terrible immune response. I got some super duty cortisone cream that is making me feel much better. We also went to the Richfield Visitor Center. What a nice pair of women staffing it! One was a UTVer herself, and both knew a lot about the trails and history of the area. We picked up some guide books and maps.

We then took off on a ride with the RZR. We are in a sagebrush meadow area at the start, but there were lots of flowers.

These orange ones are probably the most prevalent at the lower elevations (7000’)

Not many cactus, but this pink one was showy

Our trip was on the east side of UT 24. We headed up the mountains and crossed into the valley where Fish Lake is located.

Looking across the sagebrush to the west valley

Some of the trails we took were part of the Paiute Trail, a network of roads and trails widely advertised.

A lot of the trail was decent Forest Service roads

We finally got up to the aspens and lusher meadows. This was over the mountain southeast of our Campgroun.

As we continued higher, we got into the evergreens and skinny trees. They get that way due to the harsh winter conditions. Even this far south, the snow is intense.

We finally encountered a snowball we didn’t want to cross. We are much more cautious when riding by ourselves.

We had some dead ends trying to get back to our campsite, but it was an enjoyable day of about 60 miles.

Today we are getting chores done and relaxing. Our bodies feel that many miles in a RZR! Kevin checked a bunch of things on the RZR. He topped off the oil and radiator fluid and just generally checked things out. We have 49 more operational hours before it needs a major service, so this was just checking and cleaning things. I sewed some more. I cut out a bunch of 4” Drunkard’s Path pieces that I really needed to get to, so I did a bunch of those. Well, “bunch” is probably the wrong phrase. These are picky little devils, and they take a LOT of concentration. I did get about 20 done though. It is a good way to spend a lot of time and not get a lot done! They are awfully cute though.

We took a drive into Koosharem to have dinner. Nice little cafes that totally surprised me in such a tiny place! And there were pretty places along a trail head we checked out. It will be on our list of trips while we are here. And of course there were flowers!

Tomorrow we are taking a ride, so expect more pictures.

Salt Lake City to Lake Havasu

We got to Salt Lake City on Saturday, 3 June. Easy drive, so we got in before 2:00. We stayed at the KOA on North Temple as we usually do. We thought about Antelope Island, but the biting gnats were out, and those things love to take bites out of me! We connected with a good friend on Saturday, and I made my first pizza crust in the bread maker. It came out pretty well, but I don’t know how to stretch the dough well enough! It was a bit smaller and thicker than I like. Wish I had taken a picture, because it tasted great. The recipe for my 1 pound bread maker makes 2 crusts, so I froze on for later use.

Sunday we went to a fabulous concert held at my old church, First Presbyterian in SLC. They did the Rutter Requiem, and it was fabulous. It is one of my favorite choral pieces. If I had brought concert black attire I would have sung with them, but my black polo with worn blue jeans just didn’t fit the vibe LOL! Even better than the choral music was the first piece, an incredible organ piece performed by Larry Blackburn, my favorite organist. The church is a big city church with a gothic style, and it takes a big pipe organ to fill the space. Luckily they have one, and Larry makes good use of it. I don’t know if this link to the amateur recording will work, but here it is. You might need to copy it and place it in your browser.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NeT4rr9IgR15XZv_B_asjfbsmQ0MLysY/view?usp=sharing

Monday we had dinner with more old friends, and we repeated the joy with different friends on Tuesday. So nice to see so many of the people I enjoyed in Utah. I am not sad we moved, but I do miss the people. We also took the mandatory trip to Trader Joe’s and stocked up on freezer meals and treats. We also had the meeting with our financial advisor that was the official purpose for the trip.

We left on Wednesday, 7 June, and spent the night at the Eureka Casino parking lot in Mesquite, NV, just over the border from Utah. We have stayed there before in January heading to the southwest, and it always had 7-10 rigs of various types parked overnight. This time there was just 3 of us. It was pretty hot when we arrived, so we ran the generator for AC until about 9:00 pm when it cooled off enough to open the windows and turn on the fans. Kevin hates heat, but even he was comfortable with the temps that night.

We decided to take the slower route from Mesquite to Lake Havasu by driving NV 169, the Northshore Road that is mostly in Lake Mead National Recreation Area. Lovely drive. Here are a few pictures.

Lots of little islands in the lake at this low water level

The bathtub line is >100’ above current lake levels

We arrived in Lake Havasu City to a reserved site at DJ’s Campground on the north side of town. It is a well-kept, older, very quiet place, but handy and priced well. It is HOT here, so boondocking wasn’t an option; we both wanted AC. We picked up the RZR from the Needles storage lot where it had been living since we left the SW, and Kevin is off today with a friend in town doing updates and modifications to it and the truck for transporting it without the trailer. The friend has an air conditioned garage, and all the tools known to mankind. I am sure they will have a blast.

I intend on starting a donation quite out of scraps cuts with my tumbler die. It is nice, mindless seeing, but the result is cute and for a good cause. However I never seem to get the scrap pile lowered!